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Rakk
Rakk are flying creatures native to Pandora. Rakk do not have beaks. Instead, they have a flat, fleshy head ending with a pointed snout, with a brightly colored, bony plate on the top, and hooked, rasping barbs lining a soft, slit-like mouth on the bottom. Rakk do not have grasping claws or lower limbs, and instead have a set of curved, razor-sharp talons upon a flexible tail that they use to adhere to rocky surfaces. Carnivorous and known to kill living prey, Rakk can swoop down and use their tail to lacerate their targets without losing speed, letting them quickly gain altitude and set up another attack run. Rakk appear to be highly social creatures with a task-based hierarchy that includes scouts, hive defenders, food processing, and perhaps even long-term food storage not unlike Honey Pot Ants on Earth. They are also vocal, howling or screeching to rally a flock when a target presents itself or proves itself to be a threat. They also emit a screech at the moment of their slashing attack. Like all creatures, badass variants have elemental properties and will often try to bomb enemies with ranged elemental attacks rather than employ the usual diving slash. General Strategy In-game, Rakk have a large target profile and no critical spot to exploit, however they are extremely fragile and any one weapon will kill an individual Rakk in short order. Too bad Rakk tend to attack in numbers. Shotguns are one's best bet against flocks of Rakk, filling the air with waves of metal capable of shredding entire sections of an attack run with every pull of the trigger. Second on the list are machine gun-style Combat Rifles which can rake a flock with a heavy rain of slugs, knocking one beast out of the sky after the other. Rocket Launchers can be used to vaporize small sections of attacking Rakk, but there are better uses for rockets. Anarchy Submachine Guns another good anti-Rakk tool to use, combining the spread-out mayhem caused by Shotguns with the steady stream of machine guns. Repeater pistols, Revolvers, Sniper Rifles, and most other forms of SMGs are not recommended as they either don't hit hard enough per-shot, or don't fire fast enough to wipe out enough Rakk before they can do serious damage. *Masher revolvers can be used to a better effect than shotguns due to the added accuracy, and often damage. As most flocks of Rakk come in small numbers, the exception being while fighting the Rakk Hive, 2-3 shots is more than adequite for a Rakk attack. Also, liquid snipers are very effective for tight groups of Rakk, as are many scoped machine pistols with any decent fire rate and damage for one's level. Badass Rakk are best taken down at very long range and never in an Outrunner. Use the vehicle to flee the immediate area and set up a corridor of fire in which one can pummel this Badass enemy out of the sky. Assault rifle-type Combat Rifles or very accurate "Hunter" or "Death" Shotguns with amplifide magazines or fast reload speeds are best suited to do this. Players would do well to be extremely careful and keep their eyes open at all times for Rakk patrolling the sky - if there is movement in the upper corners of the screen it's usually a good idea to look and see what it is. If an attacking flock of Rakk isn't detected in time it can be deadly at lower levels, and devastating at higher levels. Types of Rakk 'Rakk / Relentless Rakk / Vindictive Rakk' The common Rakk (or just Rakk) is dark brown with bright orange markings on its head, tail, and wings. The most regularly encountered type, the common Rakk can normally be seen circling in the sky waiting for something to blunder into the territory of its flock. Sometimes they can also be seen hanging upside down, preening itself with its rasp-covered mouth. Rakk do not drop anything when they die. 'Feeder Rakk / Forager Rakk / Cultivator Rakk' Feeder Rakk are bluish white with slightly darker blue splotch-stripes running down the length of their fat lower bodies and tails. Like common Rakk they are most often encountered either circling in the sky, or hanging upside down. Feeder Rakk often drop cash and ammo when they die, and sometimes they'll drop Orb Shields. For this reason, it's best to wait before swatting down Feeder Rakk so their items can be easily picked up. 'Bloated Rakk / Distended Rakk / Tumescent Rakk' Bloated Rakk are easily identified by their large size and brightly acidic-green color and lemon-yellow markings. Bloated Rakk are rarely encountered out and in the open, making their appearance usually when the hive is threatened or the flock is called. Bloated Rakk, like Feeder Rakk, will drop items when they die. Almost without fail they will give up large amounts of cash, while occasionally they will drop Orb Shields and Weapons, and very rarely they will drop Class Mods. They should be prioritized even more carefully than Feeder Rakk because of the loot they can drop. Defender Rakk / Experienced Defender Rakk / Hardened Defender Rakk Specific variation, encountered only once in the whole game: during the boss-fight with Rakk Hive. Apart from being grey-coloured, they are quite similar to their "common" brethren. Defenders are also very weak, despite their latter name. Even on P2.5 they reach maximum 42 level (while most of the enemies are on 49, 50 or above). Kamikaze Rakk / Experienced Kamikaze Rakk / Hardened Defender Rakk Like the aforementioned type, they could be seen only released from the profound guts of the awakened Rakk Hive. What makes them even more unique is their suicidal attack: they simply explode upon contact with the victim. Kamikaze Rakk have dark, green bodies and lurid, orange wings. They're also the smallest kind. 'Badass elemental Rakk' Badass elemental Rakks come in the usual array of fire, shock, and corrosive and like all Badass enemies, these creatures have a high amount of health. Unlike regular varieties of Rakk, Badass Rakk will swoop down near the player, and begin bombardment with an elemental projectile instead of using the normal dive and slash attack pattern. The power of these elemental attacks combined with the high amount of health and supreme manueverability afforded these flying monstrosities make them extremely dangerous, especially the fire and shock types. Killing Badass Rakk may or may not result in a like elemental Artifact being dropped, but rarely will anything else fall out of the sky. There is a guartanteed spawning point for Badass Rakk in the Rust Commons West. Notes *While Borderlands presents the word "Rakk" as both the plural and singular form, certain citizens of New Haven can be heard saying, "Didja hear? We lost Jess to the rakks." *Despite their aggressive behavior, it is inferred that Rakk are also scavengers as well as predators. *On the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned there is a variant called a Skelerakk. They behave just like regular rakk, but as the name suggests, they are all bone. *Incendiary shotguns are extremely effective against Rakk. *Rakk often spawn from dormant Rakk Hives half buried in the ground, but are also known to inhabit burrows well above ground level. *Bloated and Feeder Rakk often drop Sniper Rifles more than any other type of gun. Trivia *Rakk seem to be a sort of parasitic creature as they live inside of the fatty humps on the back of Rakk Hives, with the cavities possibly having been dug out by the Rakk. Alternately, the relationship may be symbiotic with the Rakk gaining new hunting and foraging territories every Pandoran year as well as a temperature-controlled haven during the long Pandoran winter. The Rakk Hive gains protection from predators while they hibernate and migrate throughout the Pandoran summer, and possibly gains information on where to find food. *The name "Rakk" is a possible reference to the giant mythical hunting bird, the Roc. *It is also possible that the name comes from the Japanese 'Rakkasan', which loosely translates as 'falling umbrella', and was a name given to 187th US Infantry paratroopers by the Japanese in World War 2. See Also *Rakk Hive *Mothrakk *Rakkinishu Category:Creatures Category:Enemies